Magic 3/31 Western Caribbean Review

We just got off the 3/31 Magic Western Caribbean sail. I wanted to post a review because I know Ireally enjoyed reading reviews during my planning process.

We are a family of 4 with 11 and 9 year old boys and were traveling with a group of 13 total. We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Titusvillenight before. Hotel was good. No complains except kind of pricey for aHI. We arrived at the port around10:45. When you drive off the exit, youwill see a long line of people getting off at the first entrance- go in theleft lane past that long line since that is for another ship. We were able to get right into the parkingdeck and walked our luggage to bag handler’s right outside before we crossedthe road into terminal.

We had 11:30check-in but they were letting anyone and everyone in at 11. We got Zone 15. I spied some Zone 1 and 2 peoples boardingpasses who had 1:00 check-in times, so I really don’t think your check-in timematters or at least it did not this week. We waited about 20 minutes until they called our zone. We were on the ship by noon!

We posted up at Red Frog Rum bar for some drinks and a Guy’sburger…the first of many. I bought a Red Frog Tervis tumbler that they would make my drinks in the rest of the cruise. We went downto rooms before muster and lucked out by seeing our luggage on a cart ofhundreds so I hailed a porter to bring it to the room. Lucky me!

Muster was in Northern lights. Dr. E made it funny and bearable with his different voices. Kids thought it was great.

Dinners: We had 8:15seating in MDR and ate there 5 out of 7 nights. Best dishes were lobster, beeftenderloin, and the melting chocolate cake. Worst was Caesar salad and the seafood pasta dish. Wait staff was great, they learned our likesand had our drink selections quickly. Kids enjoyed the shows/singing after dinner. We ate at Italian one night and it wasOK. My appetizer of arancini was yummybut the salad and main entrée were just ok. It was nice to eat in a quieter restaurant.

Breakfast/lunch: Wedid Sea Day brunch both days which did not disappoint. I had eggs benedict and steak and eggs. Breakfast burrito at Blue Iguana wasyummy. Excursion mornings we grabbedsomething off the little buffet on Deck 5 or room service. I will say I walked past the Lido breakfast afew mornings and the lines were VERY LONG. Our travel mates complained about breakfast lines at lido too. Lunch was typically a Guy’s burger orpizza. I only ate at Lido twice thewhole cruise for salad bar...plus ice cream cones:)

All in all I thought the food was good. IMO the quality was comparable to RC Oasisfrom last year. RC may have had moreseafood or upscale offerings each night is probably the main difference Inoticed. This is not 5 star dining, soexpectations should be set. I think ofthe food in the MDR as large hotel banquet quality.

Cheers- the package madesense for us. We like to have a mimosain the morning and a few boat drinks by the pool, then wine with dinner andmaybe a few after-dinner drinks. We alsodrank lots of bottled water, Powerade, Vitamin Water and Café Americanos fromthe coffee bar.

Will post excursion reviews and overall thoughts later… LMK if you have questions…

Thank you , our Magic cruise isn't for a very looooong time so i am reading and researching everything I can find !!

Hockeyluver I sailed on the Magic in November and the Christmas sailing. Loved her! If you have any questions I would be happy to try to answer them.

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Hockeyluver I sailed on the Magic in November and the Christmas sailing. Loved her! If you have any questions I would be happy to try to answer them.

 

 

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We are sailing in May. Could you answer a couple of questions for me. I wondered about lines for the Comedy Club. How early do you recommend going? My other question is I would like to reserve the Steakhouse. This is our third cruise and we have never been. We do not like wine so it does not have to be the first night. Would you still make reservations on the first night or do you know of another night that works well. Thank you!

Never went to the comedy club but the steak house is well worth it and I can’t eat red meat. We always go to the steakhouse. Which night you go is a personal preference. I am platinum so I have priority reservations which helps if we want to go more than once. In November we went the evening of Costa Maya because we were in CM for such a short time. I think that was 6th night. On our Christmas cruise we went on twice. On Christmas Eve and again after Costa Maya.

If your one that likes elegant night then you may want to make reservations for another night. But make sure you make reservations soon.

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Thanks for the review.

Thanks for your report.

Thanks for the review. I would love to know what excursions you took. We are doing the Western Caribbean next March on the Magic with our son (he'll be 8).

Sorry for the lag in finishing my review...

Excursions:

We did not do any Carnival excursions this time. In Cozumel we hired Cozumel Sailing for a private catamaran sail. It was AMAZING day. We sailed to the northern end of Cozumel where we stopped at a totally private beach. The lunch they cooked was yummy and we got to do this fun sail/swing off the back of the boat. Great day!

We did not get off in Belize. I have been to the port before and there is not much there besides the typical shopping. All of the excursions required a 45-60 minute boat ride or long bus ride, so we decided to enjoy a less crowded ship!

In Roatan we went to Little French Key- which was our second visit and did not disappoint. It was a fabulous day there. The service was excellent once on the island. Highly recommend.

Magic:

Overall I think it was a great ship and week. I prefer the size of this ship over the huge Oasis type ship, except I wish Magic had more than 2 small pools. I will say there seemed to be a lot of unattended tweens and teens lurking around, especially at night. The arcade turned into Lord of the Flies at night and there was even a fist fight. I would recommend more security at night in/around the arcade and for the teens in general. Carnival might want to implement a curfew or something that kids under a certain age must be with their parents after 9:00 etc or with the Teen/Kids club?

Our cabin was good, we had 3 closets with plenty of space and hangers for all of our clothes. Our cabin steward was sufficient.

Really enjoyed the movies on pool deck at night. Comedy club was good and were able to get a seat or stand up spot even arriving right before the show. We didn't go to any of the theater shows- not of interest to my boys.

Debarkation was easy, we carried off our own luggage early and didn't have to wait in too long of a line. They are smart to make this as painless as possible since this is your last impression of the ship.

Happy to answer questions!

Thanks for sharing your review!

One last thing- WiFi was TERRIBLE. We bought the middle package and were barely able to access internet. Even a ship employee told me one day it was totally not working. Save your money.

Looks like my friend and I were on the same cruise as you folks.:) When I saw the heading, I wanted to read what you posted. I wrote a review a few weeks under Magic March 31st- losing my drivers license.

I, like others have said, like to read reviews of people who have been on the ship I was on, or are about to be on. That's how I "learn" about the ship.:)

Thanks for the review! Wondering if the boys used the kids club and if they enjoyed it.

Thanks for the review! Wondering if the boys used the kids club and if they enjoyed it.

We didn't use Kids Club since we were traveling with their friends. They ran around the ship together:)

Thanks for the review. I would love to know what excursions you took. We are doing the Western Caribbean next March on the Magic with our son (he'll be 8).

Our youngest was 7 and loves to snorkel since we live at the beach so unless you book the excursions on your own it’s hard to find snorkeling excursions that allows younger children. We did Paradise Beach in Cozumel because we couldn’t do the other excursions we usually do. It ended up being a great choice. It was Christmas Day and just awesome. We’ve been to Cozumel a lot and maybe because it was Christmas Day.....I don’t know but that day was fun!

In Belize we always use Coral Breezes for our excursions. And go to Caye Caulker for snorkeling with sharks (nurse) and rays. And a fresh lunch on Caye Caulker.

Caye Caulker is always the highlight when we do the western itinerary. Be careful in Belize. Book through the cruise line or Only with a reputable company. I would not recommend walking out of the port area! Coral Breezes offer other excursions too. And observer rates too. Check out their website. We’ve used them at least 10 times.

Roatan- The older boys went zip lining but my husband, myself and our 7 year old had a great relaxing beach day. Roatan is almost like an Epcot country. It was built by CCL as a port of call. Tbh CM has the same feel in the port area.

Costa Maya was a short day 7-2:00 pm so back on board by 1:30 pm ([emoji36]). In December we took a quick taxi to Mahahual beach and also did some quick shopping. In November we just hung out at the big pool and bar and shopped at the port.

Have fun!!!

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Thanks for the review. I would love to know what excursions you took. We are doing the Western Caribbean next March on the Magic with our son (he'll be 8).

We’ve done a lot of things in Cozumel but our last cruise we were there on Christmas day so we spent the day at Paradise Beach. My pictures and review are posted under Mr. Sancho’s. A blonde moment. 🤦🏼*♀️[emoji23]

But you will have snorkeling, water toys (a great variety of inflatable water toys) and bar service and vibe.

Chankanaab Park is another fun destination you can do on your own.

If you want to out on a catamaran we’ve done the Fury Catamaran (I believe it’s 8 and up) and you go to a beach after snorkeling with inflatable water toys.

If you’ve been to Cozumel and want something different and have the time the ferry to Playa makes for a fun day.

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Sorry for the lag in finishing my review...

 

Excursions:

We did not do any Carnival excursions this time. In Cozumel we hired Cozumel Sailing for a private catamaran sail. It was AMAZING day. We sailed to the northern end of Cozumel where we stopped at a totally private beach. The lunch they cooked was yummy and we got to do this fun sail/swing off the back of the boat. Great day!

 

We did not get off in Belize. I have been to the port before and there is not much there besides the typical shopping. All of the excursions required a 45-60 minute boat ride or long bus ride, so we decided to enjoy a less crowded ship!

 

In Roatan we went to Little French Key- which was our second visit and did not disappoint. It was a fabulous day there. The service was excellent once on the island. Highly recommend.

 

Magic:

Overall I think it was a great ship and week. I prefer the size of this ship over the huge Oasis type ship, except I wish Magic had more than 2 small pools. I will say there seemed to be a lot of unattended tweens and teens lurking around, especially at night. The arcade turned into Lord of the Flies at night and there was even a fist fight. I would recommend more security at night in/around the arcade and for the teens in general. Carnival might want to implement a curfew or something that kids under a certain age must be with their parents after 9:00 etc or with the Teen/Kids club?

 

Our cabin was good, we had 3 closets with plenty of space and hangers for all of our clothes. Our cabin steward was sufficient.

 

Really enjoyed the movies on pool deck at night. Comedy club was good and were able to get a seat or stand up spot even arriving right before the show. We didn't go to any of the theater shows- not of interest to my boys.

 

Debarkation was easy, we carried off our own luggage early and didn't have to wait in too long of a line. They are smart to make this as painless as possible since this is your last impression of the ship.

 

Happy to answer questions!

if you could, describe little french key, how you got there, ect. thanks!

if you could, describe little french key, how you got there, ect. thanks!

Little French Key provides transportation in their packages. You have to walk a little ways outside of the Roatan shops to a bunch or taxi and vans. They have bright shirts on that day Little French Key.

It’s a magical place that I highly recommend. It’s about 15 minutes drive and then you take a little boat over to the island. There is a mini zoo with a lion, tigers, jaguars, monkeys. You can pay to swim with the jaguar. They have snorkeling and paddle

Boards. The water is super clear. They have a few bars around and the food is yummy. Service was impeccable! It’s hard to capture in words how amazing the place really is!

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